Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Bea wrote about plastic bags that are used at your local grocery store to bag your groceries. And, it seems that this issue is on the minds of city officials as well. Starting November 20th, 2007, plastic grocery bags will be illegal at major San Francisco grocery stores. The thought is that plastic bags harm the environment because they are not easily recycled. Instead, grocers will be forced to used paper bags. And, according to a San Francisco Chronicle article, “Six months from now, pharmacy chains will also have to comply. The policy will be the first enacted in the United States - Oakland passed a similar ban that goes into effect early next year and London and Paris both have followed San Francisco’s lead…”
While I commend city officials’ efforts to stop the use of environmentally harmful plastic bags, I’m not so sure that forcing grocers to distribute more paper bags is the answer. This, undoubtedly, will cause an increase in paper consumption and, not to mention, all of the other resources (such as electricity) required to manufacture paper bags.
I can’t help but think that creating incentives for people to stop using any kind of bags altogether would be most significant. Perhaps, government could provide consumers with a discount off their groceries if they bring their own bags? Can anyone comment on any other ideas their local government is employing and how effective they are?
Disclosure: At the time of the writing of this post, I have no financial relationships with any of the organizations mentioned.
November 21st, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Mesh bags won’t take off until two things happen: 1) they are available for purchase at grocery stores (because consumers don’t always know how many individual bags they will need) and 2) grocers are able to adjust prices to account for the heavier mesh bags.
November 22nd, 2007 at 12:31 pm
bea, that is my mistake. you did write about the plastic bags for fruits and vegetables. in my haste, i mistakenly referred to your post.
i agree that there are barriers to alternatives to plastic bags. another barrier is financial as many (businesses and consumers) don’t want to cough up the extra cash for more durable bags.
November 23rd, 2007 at 11:47 am
Does anyone have any idea of the total environmental cost associated with paper vs plastic? I know that many plastic bags are petrolium based products, but are there other plastic alternatives that can help with this issue?
November 24th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
bob, that is a great question. but, i’ve found that it is fairly difficult to quantify the true environmental costs of any product. Also, should this cost be quantified in financial terms? If it quantifies the cost in financial terms, is it a true cost?